


Polar Enterprise

by jazsy



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: AU, Gen, Or is it just a dream?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-01
Updated: 2012-12-01
Packaged: 2017-11-19 23:19:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/578738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jazsy/pseuds/jazsy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on the book The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg, with a Star Trek twist. 9-year-old Jim Kirk takes the adventure of a lifetime, and learns to believe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Polar Enterprise

**Author's Note:**

> Beta'd by thalialunacy, who got overexcited and said it made her cry. <3! Written for space_wrapped over at LJ.

Jim throws a snowball at Sam, who dodges and fires one back at Jim.

"Why should I believe you, jerkface!"

Sam fakes left and reams Jim right in the chest. Jim's puffy Iowa Jaguars jacket absorbs the blow, but Jim falls to his knees anyway so he can scoop up snow. He rushes at Sam, who catches on and grabs Jim around his skinny waist and lifts him over his shoulder before snow can get shoved in his face. Jim is just fine with that, however, because it gives him the opportunity to shove snow down the back of Sam's coat.

Sam swears and drops Jim to the ground, and Jim just lays there, laughing at his own cleverness. Sam shoves Jim with his foot and says, "Believe what you want, Jimmy. But you're supposed to be the 9-year-old genius, right? So put your big dumb brain to it and figure it out."

With that, Sam jogs away towards the house, yanking at the back of his now-soaking shirt.

Jim stays there on the ground, staring up at the pinkening (Jim likes to make up new words when the ones he has won't work) Christmas Eve sky through the bare black branches of the trees. The fact is that Sam's right, Jim isn't dumb, and he can easily list all the reasons he knows that Santa isn't real. But for some reason, he doesn't want to let go of the hope that he's wrong. 

It's weird, because if there  _is_  a Santa Claus, then Jim is definitely on the naughty list (though he thinks Santa has to be understanding about- what did they say on those reruns of  _CSI_? oh- mitigating circumstances). But he really likes the idea of someone, somewhere, somehow, being cool enough to get presents for every kid (because Jim's definitely learned the lesson that some kids just don't have the things they deserve) and granting wishes. It makes him feel like the world might not totally suck, after all, and there aren't a lot of things that can manage that.

Plus, reindeer (reindeers? he's not sure) are  _so_  awesome. 

He hears the screen door slam, and the Sam yelling for him to help with dinner. Jim stares up at the sky as he trudges across the yard, imagining a fat man in a sleigh rather than the usual captain of a doomed starship.

\---

Jim wakes up bright white light streaming through his window, green and red bouncing off the opposite wall. Looking out, his mouth totally drops open. There is a  _spaceship_  on his lawn. A for-real, warp-core, explore-strange-new-worlds _spaceship_. It's the most beautiful thing he's ever seen.

And because Jim has no idea how anybody could, like,  _not_ , he's running out the door without even putting shoes on. He looks around for Sam, but he figures he'll either be out soon or will be the loser who slept through a  _spaceship_.

Outside, as he circles the ship, he can see that it's somehow been strung with Christmas lights, and Jim can't keep a huge grin off his face. He's so busy staring at the ship that he almost runs into the very tall man standing quietly next to the entrance to the ship. He is dressed in plain, dark clothing, but there are for sure  _bells_  on his shoes, and collar, and cuffs, and on his striped stocking cap. And as he nods his head at Jim, Jim can see that he has pointed ears.

"Are you a Vulcan?"

The man simply raises an eyebrow and, in a voice as calm as snow, answers, "Certainly not. I am an Elf."

Jim gapes. 

"If you will please join me, Jim, we do have a schedule to keep."

Jim is nodding and following him onto the ship before he can even think of why it might be a bad idea (not that that's ever really stopped him before).

\---

The ship is more fully awesome inside that it looked from the outside. The Elf, who says his name is Spock, shows Jim to an observation deck where there are other children, also dressed in pajamas. Jim easily makes friends with another boy named Sulu, who is obviously cool because he has sharks on his pjs (though nothing beats the dinosaurs on Jim's). 

Sulu is from San Francisco and has already made friends with a small boy from Russia, who, like Sulu, has a massive first name. Jim and Sulu decide to just call him Chekov. Chekov has physics equations on his pajamas, and they come with a fur hood and slippers.

There is also a little girl with blond hair pulled back in pigtails, who shyly says her name is Christy. She has pink Barbie pajamas, but Jim guesses he can be forgiving while on a sweet  _spaceship_ , and so talks to her anyway.

Nobody seems to know where they're going, but everyone seems to agree that no one has tried to hurt them. Jim also points out that as far as kidnapping goes, a big literally lit-up-like-Christmas  _spaceship_  with a ID number painted on the side (Jim had noticed and memorized it-  _Polar Enterprise_ , NCC-1701) is kind of obvious and easy to track.

\---

They continue to zoom around picking up kids from all over. There's a Scottish boy in fire-engine-red and forest-green plaid footie pajamas and what Jim thinks used to be called a nightcap. No one can really understand him when he talks, except for a girl from Africa who won't tell Jim her first name because he's a stranger, so he's forced to call her Uhura like everyone else. Her pajamas are purple and have owls on them. Jim says that that's weird and she answers back that having animals that haven't been alive for 65 million years on your pajamas is weird. Which is- what did Mom say that one time? A point Jim has to con...concede? Yeah, that.

Their last stop before their final destination, Spock's even voice announces, is Terra, North American Continent, State of Georgia. Jim watches through the window as a boy comes cautiously out of the front door. His hair's all crazy and he doesn't look happy or excited about having a  _spaceship_  in his front yard. Instead, he looks scared. 

At first Jim doesn't understand, but then like a lightbulb going on in those old pre-Pixar cartoons, he does. This kid's probably got more sense than all of them, not wanting to get on a strange ship in the middle of the night, especially Christmas Eve. But Jim somehow knows, the way he just knows things sometimes, that if this kid doesn't come on this ship, he'll be missing like, the adventure of a lifetime. And Jim doesn't want that to happen. No one should miss this.

So he runs back down to the entrance of the ship (he'd memorized the route on their way in) and out to stand next to Spock, who raises an eyebrow but doesn't try to stop him. The other boy looks surprised and stops in the middle of a shouted sentence. Jim takes a few steps forward and stops when the other boy backs up a step.

"No no, it's ok," says Jim, "I'm a kid just like you, I got picked up from my house, too. I'm Jim, and I'm from Riverside, Iowa."

He sticks out his hand and the other boy looks at it warily, but shakes it.

"I'm Leonard McCoy," he answers, his southern drawl evident.

"I like your pajamas, I was a pirate for Halloween last year. That skull n' crossbones is awesome. How come you don't wanna come on board? I promise, swear, it's safe. There's a buncha other kids, I'll get them all down here if you want."

"I don't wanna go in space alone," McCoy answers, "We're learnin' about it in school, and it's dark an' dangerous an' you can get all kinds of wacko diseases."

"You're not alone, though, we'll be there, and I, James Tiberius Kirk, will personally make sure that you don't get a wacko disease. Or let anything else bad happen to you. Jim holds out his hand. "Pinky swear, pirate's honor."

McCoy thinks about this for a second, looking straight at Jim, who doesn't look away. He then nods and links his pinky with Jim's. Jim grins and drags him up onto the ship, and they're off again.

\---

They are served hot cocoa with super extra marshmallows, and Jim and Bones (that's what Jim's decided to call McCoy, since they made a pirate vow) get into a discussion about the best driver to use on MarioKart for the Wii73 (Jim likes Toadstool in the Romulan Warbird; Bones likes KoopaTroopa on an old-fashioned motorbike), and so before Jim knows it, they are touching down.

Looking out the window, he's surprised to see a city that looks similar to Terran ones, covered in snow. 

"Where are we?" about 80 bazillion kids ask at once, and Spock, who has appeared all ninja-like in the doorway, answers, "The planet of North Pole. Please follow me, there is someone who wants to meet you all."

They are all shocked still for a second, because did Spock - the guy who said he was an  _Elf_  - just say they were at  _the North Pole_? As in  _where Santa lives_?

Then, in the next second, everyone is scrambling to pull themselves together and running to follow Spock down to the entrance of the ship. They are almost out the door when Bones suddenly stops and yells, "I don't have any shoes! My feet'll freeze! I knew this was a bad-"

Spock cuts him off calmly but firmly. "I can assure you, Leonard, that the snow here is very different from the snow on Terra, and prolonged exposure will cause you no harm."

Bones scowls, but begins walking again. When they make it outside, Jim realizes that the snow  _is_  different here. It's white, and it feels cool, but just a nice- what's that word from the gum commercials? Oh, refreshing, it's a refreshing cool, not a cold that'll hurt. It also has this weird sparkle that Jim can't figure out- it changes as it moves, and Jim would almost say it changes color. 

The city itself is totally decked out for Christmas- lights on every building, wreaths on every door, is the street really made of  _candy canes?_  And as they round a corner, Jim can't help but yell, "Whoa!" (and he's not the only one), because smack in the middle of the town square is the biggest Christmas tree Jim's ever seen in his  _life_. 

They come to a stop in the middle of the crowded square, and Jim looks up at Spock, who is, of course, giving nothing away. "What now?"

"Now," Spock answers, "We wait."

Jim is ready to groan at that because he hates waiting more than anything, and he is so, so bad at it. But before he can, Bones is tugging on his arm. "Jim, Jim, you gotta see this," he says, pointing up at the sky.

Jim looks up and sees a long streak of light coming back and forth across the blue-black sky. It gets closer every time, until it streaks right over their heads and Jim feels like he could reach up and touch it (he doesn't,  _Mom_ ). It comes to a stop in front of the massive tree, and the crowd watches and cheers in amazement as it materializes into a  _sleigh_  pulled by eight  _reindeer_ , dude this is so  _cool_ , and sitting atop the sleigh is-

-not Santa. It's not empty; there's a beautiful woman sitting in it, who looks like Christmas come to life. She has green skin and bright red curly hair, and she's wearing a poofy dress that looks like it could actually be made out of snow, if snow was like, painted on the edges with gold.

She waves to the crowd and smiles happily, and they cheer even louder- all except for Jim and the other children, who just look at each other confusedly. Her eyes fall on them and her smile gets just a little bit wider, and she beckons them over.

"Not what you were expecting?" she asks, but doesn't seem offended.

No one says anything, but they all fidget because it's the truth. Jim tries to keep his thoughts inside his head like he's been working on at school, but he just  _can't_. "We were expecting Santa!"

He hears Bones say, "Jim!" a little frantically behind him, but he doesn't turn around. Now that it's out, he wants to see her response.

She nods as if she was expecting this, and extends a hand to him. Jim takes it and climbs up beside her in the sleigh. From here, he can see that she has gold and white Chuck Taylors on, and wonders if she got them somewhere on Earth.

"Jim Kirk, Riverside, Iowa, right?"

"Right."

"So you were expecting something more like...this." She waves her hand over herself and suddenly Jim is sitting next to a Santa Claus he recognizes. He grins and nods. The Santa Claus waves a hand and the woman is back. "Just one of my many disguises," she says, waving her hand again and becoming someone who looks like Santa, but has a longer beard and is wearing different clothes.

Jim's confused, but there's a happy shout from the group of children, and he sees Chekov pointing and yelling excitedly in Russian. The new Santa waves and says something in Russian, then shifts and points at Uhura. Waving a hand, he changes slightly again, and Uhura's face lights up, and she claps.

Santa changes again and again, more rapidly than Jim can keep up with, until suddenly she is back in her- what did his teacher say another word for first was? Oh, primary. Her primary form.

She grins down at Jim and leans down to whisper, "You wouldn't believe how hard it is to go around sneakily giving out presents and get away with it. A girl's got to be a million different people these days."

Then she knucks Jim on the head and speaks loud enough to be heard by the crowd. "Now let's get this show on the road! Jim, this year, you get to receive the first gift of Christmas!"

Jim can't believe what he's hearing. In what universe does  _he_  get chosen for something like this? "Really?" he asks, looking around at the other kids.

"Yes!" she says, giggling and poking him in the side. "Come on, what do you want?"

Jim says the first thing that comes to his mind. "A spaceship."

She laughs, a sound like tinkling bells, and puts an arm around Jim. "I can't give you a real one," she pauses, "yet. But I can give you this," and she opens her other hand to reveal a miniature version of the  _Enterprise_. No, wait, a  _working_ miniature version, with lights and sounds that hovers in little circles above her hand, and then above Jim's when she tips it toward him. "And I can promise you that someday, Jim, you'll be called Captain."

Jim's so busy staring at the little ship that he barely remembers to murmur, "Thank you." She gives him one final squeeze and gently shoves him out of the sleigh. Santa flicks the reigns over the reindeer, and Jim snaps out of his fog as Bones pulls him back out of the way.

"Merry Christmas!" she calls, and everyone answers back the same as she disappears in the same golden streak of light she arrived with.

All the kids crowd around Jim, wanting to toy with the spaceship and hear what Santa said to him, but Bones tells them to back off, and somehow Spock manages to do that cowboy thing- corral, yeah, corral them all back to the  _Enterprise_.

\---

Most of the kids are sleeping on the couches of the observation deck, but Jim and Bones are sitting on the floor with the little  _Enterprise_ hovering between them, talking about what they want to be when they grow up. Bones has wanted to be a doctor since forever, and thinks Jim is wacko bananas for wanting to zip around the universe being a superhero. Jim knows he's the got the ace-in-the-hole, though, and points out that if he's a captain, Bones can be a doctor on his ship.

"I mean, look at this trip. I kept you safe, right? So you gotta admit, this is a great plan."

Bones doesn't look entirely convinced, but he doesn't disagree, either. 

Jim likes having Bones around (kind of like a nicer version of Sam), and is sad to see him go when the  _Enterprise_  drops him safely back at his house. He gives Bones his house's comm code and tells Bones to call him when he's done with med school.

\---

The next thing he knows, he's waking up in his own bed, and the only light streaming in the windows is sunlight. Sam is pounding on his door and yelling for him to come down and open presents. Jim sits up, a little disorientated, and then immediately starts looking around for his little spaceship. But it's nowhere to be found, even when he shakes out his blankets and checks all his pockets and tosses his pillows across the room.

He sighs, sitting in the middle of his empty bed, and wills himself not to cry. He should have known it was too good to be true, of course it was a dream. No one could be that generous, that good, that willing to promise you that you could be a captain. Don't be stupid, Jim, man up, Jim. 

Once he's convinced he doesn't look like a baby, he gets up and trudges downstairs. He gives his mom a hug and drops to his knees in front of the tree when she tells him to play Santa.

_Play,_  he thinks,  _that's really all it is._

He pulls out a box for Sam, and a bag for Mom, and then he sees a small box without a tag, simply marked, 'JTK'. Curious, he pulls the top of the box off.

It's the tiny  _Enterprise_ , and it still works, and Jim is so happy and relieved and excited that he doesn't even know what to do. He pulls the ship out, and notices there is a note underneath.

_Never doubt that there is good in this world, this galaxy, this universe, Jim. And where there is not, I dare you to go and make the good yourself._  



End file.
